Thanksgiving Week 2022

Thanksgiving week was an exciting one as carpenters returned for the first time since mid-September. Dad has continued on many parts of the project in the meantime, including getting old siding off the garage and resetting the front brick patio.

Now we are grateful for a new front door to replace the 46-year-old original that leaked and grew ice indoors in winter.

And the siding project has begun! 

Everyone got a break for Thanksgiving Day.

Even though it was only the four of us at home for the day, we had a feast complete with two versions of sweet potatoes and dressing to accommodate various food sensitivities. Elsa even managed to nearly replicate the pumpkin pie we grew up with for the first time since losing gluten and dairy options. But now that we can both handle eggs again, this was delicious! 

Friday Dad is back to work sealing around new doors. 

And we are enjoying pulling out Christmas music and CDs again while getting ready for family coming tonight!

Courage, dear heart!

 

"Courage, dear heart!"

Did you know that more than sixty years before Lucy heard these comforting words in C.S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia," they had been penned to you and me (to any follower of Christ) by a British man named Charles?

He went on to tell us to:

"Bear up, for the Lord will bear you up, and bear you through. He who made you knows how frail you are, and how little you can bear. He will handle tenderly that which he has fashioned so delicately. Therefore, be not afraid because of the painful present, for it hastens to a happy future."

• C.H. Spurgeon, 1888
Chequebook of the Bank of Faith

I haven’t counted how many times this little book has made it on to my blog over the past year, but the fact that I keep sharing from it shows how highly I can recommend it to anyone looking for a short daily reading in addition to their study of God’s word.

Having started it a few weeks into 2021 and then gotten behind over time, I just finished the 365th entry this week.

Here is one more quote from the last few pages:

“This volume is a cheque-book for believers, and this page is meant as a warning as to what bank they draw upon, and whose signature they accept. Rely upon Jesus without limit. Trust not thyself nor any born of woman, beyond due bounds; but trust thou only and wholly in the Lord.”

[entry for December 26]

A Solace for Sick Saints (and a prayer request)

'And I will strengthen them in the LORD:
and they shall walk up and down

in his name, saith the LORD'

▪︎ Zechariah 10:12

"A solace for sick saints. They have grown faint, and they fear that they shall never rise from the doubt and fear; but the great Physician can both remove the disease, and take away the weakness which has come of it. He will strengthen the feeble. This he will do in the best possible way, for it shall be 'in Jehovah.' 

"Our strength is far better in God than in self. In the Lord it causes fellowship, in ourselves it would create pride. In ourselves it would be sadly limited, but in God it knows no bound.

"When strength is given, the believer uses it. He walks up and down in the name of the Lord. What an enjoyment it is to walk abroad after illness, and what a delight to be strong in the Lord after a season of prostration! The Lord gives his people liberty to walk up and down, and an inward leisure to exercise that liberty. 

"Come, my heart, be thou no more sick and sorry - Jesus bids thee be strong, and walk with God in holy contemplation. Obey his word of love."

▪︎ C.H. Spurgeon, "Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" - October 11th

Illness has increased in our home this month. Would you join us in prayer for healing from a severe case of shingles (not mine) that even shocked the doctor? The pain is hardly allowing for any rest (let alone 'sleep') night or day for the last two weeks. This makes it harder than ever to heal.

Nevertheless ... Hereafter

 

'Nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven' - Matthew 26:64

"Ah, Lord, thou wast in thy lowest state when before thy persecutors thou wast made to stand like a criminal! Yet the eyes of thy faith could see beyond thy present humiliation into the future glory. What words are these, 'Nevertheless -- hereafter'! I would imitate thy holy foresight, and in the midst of poverty, or sickness, or slander, I also would say, 'Nevertheless -- hereafter.' Instead of weakness, thou hast all power; instead of shame, all glory; instead of derision, all worship. Thy cross has not dimmed the splendour of thy crown, neither has the spittle marred the beauty of thy face. Say, rather, thou art the more exalted and honoured because of thy sufferings.

"So, Lord, I also would take courage from the 'hereafter.' I would forget the present tribulation in the future triumph. Help thou me by directing me into thy Father's love and into thine own patience, so that when I am derided for thy name I may not be staggered, but think more and more of the hereafter, and, therefore, all the less of today. I shall be with thee soon and behold thy glory. Wherefore, I am not ashamed, but say in my inmost soul, 'Nevertheless -- hereafter.'"

- C.H. Spurgeon, Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith, May 30